A new exciting way to exchange Monero is Atomic Swaps, which <a href="https://www.getmonero.org/2021/08/20/atomic-swaps.html">we announced</a> on August 2021. Atomic Swaps are a completely decentralized way to swap Bitcoin <-> Monero (more info in the blog post). The technology is brand new, so there aren't many swap providers yet, but you can already sell XMR for BTC using this protocol at
Monero was launched in April 2014. It was a fair, pre-announced launch of the CryptoNote reference code. There was no premine or instamine, and no portion of the block reward goes to development. See the original Bitcointalk thread
